Who is the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition?

Our mission is to reverse the trend of mass incarceration in Colorado. We are a coalition of nearly 7,000 individual members and over 100 faith and community organizations who have united to stop perpetual prison expansion in Colorado through policy and sentence reform.

Our chief areas of interest include drug policy reform, women in prison, racial injustice, the impact of incarceration on children and families, the problems associated with re-entry and stopping the practice of using private prisons in our state.

Monday, March 24, 2008

The Colorado prison system has missed two court-ordered deadlines to improve facilities and services for disabled inmates, some of whom have gone without glasses, wheelchairs or hearing aids for months or even years, according to court records.

The claims stem from a federal lawsuit filed in 1992 by six disabled inmates who said Colorado prisons didn't comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

The case later became a class-action lawsuit on behalf of all disabled state prisoners.

In 2003, the state Department of Corrections agreed in a multimillion-dollar settlement to make changes by 2005.

The changes included making prisons handicapped-accessible, ending lower pay for so-called "handicapped" inmate jobs and ensuring that disabled inmates had access to sign language interpreters and Braille or large-print documents.

The state didn't comply by 2005, so the deadline was extended to July 2007.

5 comments:

Anonymous
said...

A totally mis-managed system from top to bottom. An audit is needed and Zavaras needs to go NOW. He needs to be put into the prison system where he can learn his mistakes, say for 5 years, then maybe he can resolve some issues. He has been doing this for so long, under so many administrations, he is caloused and unresponsive other than counting beds and building new prisons. HE AND HIS ENTIRE ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF MUST BE FIRED NOW.

I agree with the above. All of the adminstrative people including Zavarres need to go. They hide behind what they call public security. Over 1/2 of the inmates in Colorado pose no security threat and were never sent to prison for that reason. I amen the idea to send them all to prison for 5 years to learn from there mistakes. A huge one is the continual coverup of the rape of female inmates by the elite of the guards. A new adminstration could cure the present prison population and instead of building more prisons could close half of what Colorado has. djw

WOW, what else is new. Anyone who has been inside a Colorado Prison knows the interests of inmates and or society is being met. The Colorado DOC thinks it is untouchable. I say we need to get together and reach out and touch someone, say starting with Bill Ritter. We need to rally and fire the boys at the top.